BOX SCORE: Angelo State 67, Texas A&M-Commerce 65

SAN ANGELO – Bryan Hammond drove to the basket and hit the game-winning shot with four seconds on the clock to lift the Angelo State men's basketball team to a 67-65 Lone Star Conference win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday at the Junell Center.

The Rams (11-3, 1-1 LSC) lead throughout, but saw the Lions (12-3, 1-2 LSC) tie the game at 65-65 with 10 seconds remaining on a Devondrick Walker 3-pointer. Hammond took the ball down the court and hit a layup to regain the lead before a last-second shot by De'Andre Carson missed the mark.

"At first I thought he (coach Chris Beard) was going to call a timeout, but then he just gave me that look," Hammond said. "I knew I had to make a play and Ryan Marsh set a great screen for me that opened the lane and I just focused on the layup and made the play."

Kenny Williams led ASU with 21 points and was two rebounds shy of his seventh double-double of the season, while Hammond scored 15 points and contributed six assists in the win. Chris Talkington and Thomas Brandsma had 11 points each to join Williams and Hammond in double figures with Daniel Skinner grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists. Marsh had a season-high four blocks and also secured five rebounds.

"I thought that we came out to play and it was obvious that we have a team with six seniors who have been in some of these wars before," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "A less experienced team could have thought that they were through working when we had the big lead. That wasn't our approach at all. I liked our focus throughout the game and thought that we looked like a team that wanted to win."

ASU led 40-26 at halftime and had a 50-30 advantage before A&M-Commerce went on a 10-0 which was started by a jumper from Walker with 13:23 remaining in the game. The Lions pulled the game to within single digits at 53-44 on a Carson layup with 9:14 on the clock and would draw to within two at 55-53 on a Tyrie Wooten 3-pointer with 5:32 remaining. Hammond hit two free throws to push the ASU lead to 57-53 and Reggie Sutton hit an important jumper to give the Rams a 59-56 lead with 3:22 left.

The game remained close down the stretch with two free throws from A&M-Commerce's Cameron Blue taking it to 61-59 with 66 seconds on the clock. Talkington gave the Rams a little padding with two of his own free throws for a 63-59 lead before an and-one conversion by Wooten trimmed the ASU advantage to 63-62. Talkington hit two more free throws before Walker's 3-pointer tied the game and set up Hammond's heroics.

"As a coach you always think about taking a timeout or not taking one in moments like that," Beard said. "You trust those experienced players like Bryan more and I trusted him right there. I see him every day in practice and everything he does there has shown me that he is competitive and he makes the right play. There's something about being a senior in college basketball and making the right play at the right time. He did that there."

The Rams outrebounded the Lions 45-33 in the game and outscored them 12-5 on fast break points. A&M-Commerce had a 32-18 advantage on bench scoring – led by Walker who had paced the Lions with 19 points as a reserve. A&M-Commerce came into the game averaging 85.1 points and was held to its season-low in points by the Rams. ASU forced 15 turnovers to go along with five blocks.

ASU and A&M-Commerce were nearly even on shooting percentage with the Rams finishing with a 36.7-34.5 advantage from the field. The Rams shot well over their average on free throws by knocking down 16 of 21 from the free-throw line (76.2 percent). Talkington went 4-for-4 from the line with Hammond hitting 5 of 6. ASU hit seven 3-pointers, including getting three from Brandsma and two from Hammond.

"We just came together and knew that we were going to be in a situation like this," Hammond said. "They are a really talented team and we knew they were going to fight back. We have six seniors and everyone showed leadership and brought what they could to the table."

The Rams return to action at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against West Texas A&M at the Junell Center. The Buffs (7-6) are coming off a 69-68 road-loss to Cameron on Saturday.

"This conference is such a grind and it's a lot of fun to play and coach in," Beard said. "Everyone is very good and you literally enjoy this win for a couple of minutes and then start focusing on the next challenge. West Texas A&M is a team that is good enough to beat any team on any given night and I'm really hoping that with our home court and the students back from break that we get a great crowd that helps us."